Archive for the 'Mike Brown' Tag Under 'Lakers' Category

The Lakers were "pretty edgy but pretty loose at the same time," Kobe Bryant said after Lakers practice Tuesday.

"We've been blown out a bunch of times this season," Bryant said.

Bryant said after the Game 1 loss to Oklahoma City that the Lakers needed to come back for Game 2 ready to "think the game through."

Pau Gasol said it's "not rocket science" how the Lakers need to adjust after Oklahoma City took away basic strong-side post entry passes from the wing. Although defense it the Lakers' greater problem, as cited in my column about Coach Mike Brown after Game 1, the Lakers will look to move the ball more to the other side of the floor and get post penetration via high-low action from Gasol flashing high and then passing to Andrew Bynum.

Magic Johnson stirred up the NBA playoffs Friday when he said Mike Brown would be fired if the Lakers lost a winner-take-all Game 7 to Denver in their first-round series.

"They're going to run Mike Brown first out of town," Johnson said as an ESPN NBA analyst. "Then second will be [Andrew] Bynum. Then third will be [Pau] Gasol."

"His job will go," Johnson added, "the Lakers are about championships. That's what the Lakers are about. If they lose this game, Mike Brown, I bet you, will not be sitting there."

His on-air comments caught Lakers management off-guard and the team issued a terse statement Saturday saying this was Johnson's opinion and "not made on behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers" and do not reflect management's position on Brown. Brown has two more guaranteed years on his contract with a fourth-year option, making an average of $4.5 million per season.

About the only person not bothered by Magic's comments was Brown, who was fired from the Cleveland Cavaliers two seasons ago after losing in the second round.

The Lakers backed Brown with a statement -- and so did his opposing coach in this series.

Nuggets coach George Karl said the Lakers had a "solid-to-good year" in Brown's first season coaching them and declared Johnson's statement "out of control." Karl suggested it reflected ESPN's desire to spark controversy or be outlandish.

"Wild and crazy," Karl added about Johnson's comment before Game 7 Saturday night at Staples Center. "It's ESPN-ish. I think he got another year on his contract for that comment."

Metta World Peace returns to the Lakers ... and finds them on the brink of elimination.

With the Lakers being blown out Thursday night in the second half of Game 6, World Peace's seven-game NBA suspension for elbowing Oklahoma City's James Harden expired. He is eligible to play again Saturday, when with a Game 6 loss they will be pushed to a do-or-die Game 7 at Staples Center against Denver.

If the Lakers win, they would move on to begin a second-round series with Game 1 Monday night and Game 2 Wednesday night, both in Oklahoma City. World Peace has said he didn't directly contact Harden because of the likelihood the Lakers would face the Thunder in the postseason.

World Peace was certainly missed in the Lakers' first six playoff games. He would've been the defender -- not Steve Blake -- when Andre Miller was carving up the Lakers' defense with cagey moves. Devin Ebanks, the replacement starter at small forward, had a nice showing after World Peace was ejected in that April 22 game vs. the Thunder, but he has gotten worse and worse -- unable even to get back in transition defense consistently and properly.

Lakers coach Mike Brown skipped Ebanks entirely to start the second half Thursday night after more mistakes in the Lakers' poor start to Game 6. But sore-ankled Matt Barnes, expected to carry a big load while World Peace was out, stayed inconsistent -- especially with a 3-point stroke that led him to make just three of 23 attempts in this series.

Mike Brown isn't terribly popular because he's the one replacing Phil Jackson, whose status among Lakers fans was cemented if not during his first three titles here then certainly during his last two.

Brown never has been less popular locally than he is today, he and the Lakers now trudging back to Denver for a game they weren't even supposed to be playing.

The Lakers' rookie coach, though, deserves some recognition. This isn't his first springtime go-round, you know. By the time he left Cleveland, he was the franchise's all-time leader in playoff victories and postseason winning percentage.

OK, so the Cavaliers, historically speaking, aren't exactly the Lakers or Celtics. That's not the point. The point is Brown, historically speaking, isn't exactly Randy Pfund, either.

During his suspension, Metta World Peace has finished up a mixed tape of his music, sent marriage proposals over Twitter, and appeared on the Conan O'Brien Show all without missing a practice or shoot-around.

In fact, the only thing World Peace has missed during his time away from the court is games. The Lakers forward is in the midst of a NBA-imposed seven-game suspension for elbowing Oklahoma City's James Harden in the head, but has remained a constant presence with the team.

"He's been a part of what we are trying to do," Mike Brown said Tuesday. "He's been at shoot-arounds and all that. He comes early. He came to shoot-around today. He came early, he came here (Staples Center) early today.

"He's working his tail off. Whenever he comes back, he comes back. (Right now) we got some big things in front of us, starting with tonigh, but he's a part of us."

World Peace sat out Tuesday's game and has one game left in his suspension. If the Lakers beat the Nuggets on Tuesday, they would begin the next round against Oklahoma City without World Peace's stalwart defense. Some have suggested the Lakers should purposely lose Game 5 and force a Game 6 so they could have World Peace ready for the start of the next round.

Anyone who has watched Kobe Bryant play the past 16 seasons might have been surprised to see the Lakers star twice give up a chance to be the hero in the final minute of Sunday's Game 4 against Denver.

With the game tied at 86, Bryant, who had been double-teamed by Denver all night, passed up a chance to shoot the go-ahead basket and watched as Ramon Sessions took a pass from Pau Gasol and buried a 3-pointer for an 89-86 lead with 48 seconds left.

With the clocking winding down, Bryant passed the ball to Steve Blake, who buried his second 3-point shot to put the game out of reach with 18 seconds remaining, forgoing another Kobe-like finish.

"It's happened a couple of times to us this year and when you get to this part of the year, its exciting to see other guys step up," Coach Mike Brown said. "It's just as exciting to see Kobe making the pass, or making the right pass at the right time and trusting his guys to make plays."

Brown said the team has learned to trust other players and not rely solely on Bryant to bail them out down the stretch.

Mike Brown didn't talk to the team much about the importance of closing out the first-round series against Denver in Tuesday's Game 5.

He didn't stress not wanting to travel back to Denver for a Game 6 if they lose, and he certainly didn't mention the fact Oklahoma City is sitting around waiting for the winner of this series. The Thunder swept Dallas on Saturday to advance to the second round.

Instead, the Lakers first-year coach put the emphasis on the here and now, which are the Nuggets at Staples Center, rather than future opponents and pending travel.

"For me, I'm not a guy that will talk about, 'Hey, we got to win this because of this or because of that,' " Brown said. "The players know it. They know this is a close-out game. They know if we win this game we don't have to get on a plane right away and fly to Oklahoma City.

After holding off Denver to take a 2-0 series lead, Kobe Bryant said having time off helped him tremendously. The eight-game layoff not only allowed his sore shin to heal, but it gave the Lakers star a chance to rest his body from the pounding and wear-and-tear of games.

Yet, two days later, Bryant discounted the unexpected rest at the end of the season. He said Thursday that outside of the shin injury, his 34-year-old body was in fine shape, despite logging 2,232 minutes in 58 games.

"I was feeling fine," he said. "Outside of the injury, I was OK."

It's just like Bryant to shake off any talk of fallibility. He has played through broken fingers, sprained ankles, broken noses, torn wrist ligaments and sore necks, so it's no wonder he refused to say he was tired from the heavy minutes Coach Mike Brown laid on him.